Wednesday 28 March 2012

JSTOR Arts & Sciences VIII now available


We are pleased to announce that we now have access to the JSTOR e-journal package 'Arts and Sciences VIII'.  This includes several key music titles, including Musica Disciplina, Music Perception, College Music Symposium and Music and the Moving Image. For a full list of the titles included in A&S VIII click here.

Don’t forget that JSTOR’s coverage is primarily retrospective and we have access to many other titles, including current issues, from other publishers. Always check the title list in OU e-Journals or SOLO.

MH

Sunday 18 March 2012

Haydn à l’anglaise

Next time you are heading for Duke Humfrey’s Library, do spare a moment to look at the latest display in the Proscholium exhibition case. Haydn à l’anglaise explores the way in which Haydn’s two collections of Lieder, published by Artaria in Vienna in 1781 and 1784 respectively, reached England and how London publishers sought to capitalise on the popularity of Haydn’s music which had taken England by storm, even before the composer’s first visit to this country in 1791.

English versions of Haydn’s two original sets of Lieder were produced, the first adapted by William Shield to English poetry by a number of different named English poets in his collection of ‘Twelve ballads’, published by Longman & Broderip in 1786. Versions of the second set of Lieder were published in an anonymous collection of 1789. In many cases, the English words bore little or no relationship to their German originals.
There was evidently a market for the music of the composer whom the London press had dubbed ‘the Shakespeare of Music’. The 24 original songs proved to be not enough for the musical public so, in order to satisfy the demands of the amateur market, the London publishers turned to Haydn’s instrumental music and set words to tunes from the string quartets and symphonies which were widely played in this country at the time. Two such collections appeared, in 1787 and 1789, one arranged by the eminent English composer, Samuel Arnold. The opposite process also took place and the composer, Thomas Haigh, who had received lessons from Haydn on his first visit to England, turned some of Haydn’s songs into keyboard pieces.

The Proscholium display includes early English editions of Haydn’s songs and related works, and a couple of autograph manuscripts from the Bodleian’s collections. It also features the fine portrait of the 67-year-old composer by the young artist Johann Carl Rössler (1775-1845) which formerly belonged to Mendelssohn but now normally hangs in the Bate Collection in the Faculty of Music. The exhibition is designed to illustrate a lecture being given by Dr Derek McCulloch on 30th March and a short concert by his ensemble Caf€ Mozart, featuring some of the music which they have recently recorded on a CD, also entitled Haydn à l’anglaise. The exhibition runs until 8th April.

MH

Thursday 1 March 2012

Easter vacation borrowing

Books and scores taken out of the library from Monday 5th March onwards will be due back on Tuesday 24th April. Plan your vacation work early to make sure you get all of the books you need!


Short Loan books needed for the Easter break?


We need to keep one copy of all Short Loan Collection books here for the vacation so that people who stay in Oxford have access to the whole collection.  However, you CAN take Short Loan items if there are two copies of the item that you need on the shelf.  From Friday of 8th week, 9th March, duplicated Short Loan books will be available for loan until Friday 20th April (Week 0).  You will need to bring two copies of the book you want to the library counter to prove that there’s a spare to leave on the shelf.  There’s usually a bit of a rush, so come early if you want to take one of the “doubles” available. 


You will need to be here in person if you want to do this; you may not just renew online a Short Loan that you have already borrowed. Don’t despair if there is only a single copy left on Friday morning.  By Saturday (we’re open 10am till 1pm), all two day Short Loans will have to have been returned and often you can harvest a "double” on the Saturday.


Easter vacation opening hours:


12th - 16th March:         9:00am - 5:00pm
19th March - 4th April:   9:30am - 4:30pm 
**** 5th - 15th April:     CLOSED ****
16th - 20th April:           9:00am - 5:00pm


JMcP